Photographs of
Waterloo Veterans:
An Appeal
Napoleonic Newsdesk
by Paul Chamberlain
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Alan Lagden has a project to locate photographs of as many veterans of the Waterloo Campaign as he can find. He has sent this request for help. Antoine Claudet's Daguerreotype of the Duke of Wellington, taken in 1844 and by general consent the best likeness of the great man, and much copied by miniaturists and engravers, is perhaps the first of a handful of photographic images to be taken of British Waterloo officers. Rarer still are photographs of the enlisted men, NCOs and Private soldiers who not only survived the battle but also lived at least into the 1850s when photography became widely available. Two group photos are known, the first taken in the vicarage garden in Rochdale during the summer of 1856. It features ten men - nine of whom are be medalled and wearing laurel leaves in their lapels - bare-headed and carrying their 'stove-pipe' hats. The tenth man, whose name is known, had interested himself in the men's welfare and contrived to include himself in the photograph. These men, known as 'The Rochdale Veterans' are not identified but there are enough clues in the picture to identify two of the group. The second group photo, taken in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in June 1880, features five pensioners described as the last survivors of Waterloo in Chelsea Hospital. All are identified by name and regiment with brief details. It is perhaps surprising that research has failed to support the claims of three of these men. In addition to these two group pictures, I have located fifteen individual portrait photographs and five 'double' portraits - veterans posing with their wives, these women. With the exception of one very sweet old lady, look even more fearsome than their stern-faced husbands! I have only one original photograph, a very faded carte-de-visite of about 1860. The others in the collection are all copies and vary in quality from poor tenth-generation photocopies to crisp, high-definition images comparable to the best modern black and white prints. Photographs of identifiable enlisted men include:
Benjamin Bumstead 73rd Foot Edward Costello 95th Rifles Thomas Evans Royal Horse Guards John Gilbert 40th Foot David Henderson 79th Foot John Jack 52nd Foot William Keevers 18th Hussars James Livesey Royal Horse Artillery John McKay 42nd Foot John Noble 7th Hussars Robert Phipps 44th Foot Richard Rider 15th Hussars William Robinson 73rd Foot Robert Roycroft 42nd Foot William Sadler 1st Royal Dragoons Maurice Shea 73rd Foot James Simmonds 7th Hussars James Smithies 1st Royal Dragoons John Stubbings King's Dragoon Guards Thomas Weaver 30th Foot The project is ongoing. If any reader can help locate pictures of other Waterloo veterans, please contact: Alan Lagden, East End Green Farm, Brightlingsea, Essex, CO7 0SX. More Napoleonic Newsdesk
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